Zynga Kicks Off 7-Eleven Promotion

This week will see social developer Zynga's long-rumored partnership with national convenience store chain 7-Eleven begin in earnest. The promotion will offer players of Zynga's various social games limited edition virtual items with purchase of specific real-world goods from participating 7-Eleven stores.

Some of the physical goods attached to the campaign will be covered with branding from one of Zynga's games, to help make them more recognizable to players.The Zynga games participating in the massive promotion will be YoVille, Mafia Wars, and FarmVille.

These are, not coincidentally, the three games that InComm supports with prepaid cards. These cards have been sold through 7-Elevens and other retailers for about two months. The current deal is motivated by the success of the Zynga prepaid cards at 7-Eleven locations according to Zynga Senior Vice President of Business Operations Vish Makhijani.

The products that contain codes for particular virtual items were chosen based on their thematic ties to a particular game, though Slurpee and Big Gulp purchases will provide item codes for all three games. Items are all exclusive to the 7-Eleven promotion.

Purchase of prepaid cards for a given game during the promotion will also grant an item code. Finally, there will also be an "uber-gift" for each game tied to finishing particular gameplay tasks or purchasing particular virtual items.

The promotion is currently set to run from June 1st to July 15th, but items have already begun to appear in some stores. The promotion is for now slated only for 7-Elevens in the United States. Players are limited to receiving 10 gifts per day through the 7-Eleven promotion. Any individual player may only own three of the 7-Eleven exclusive items.